From the hair color and style, body-type, shape to etiquette and level of femininity of Asian women, Boye de Mente takes the reader into full detail with Women of the Orient chapters including: The women of Japan The women of Korea The women of Taiwan & Hong Kong The women of Thailand The Women of Vietnam And lastly the Women of the Philippines In Women of the Orient, Boye De Mente, reveals Asia's exotic cities and explores the unique character and charms of some of the world's most feminine women. Learn how hot-tempered Korean girls keep warm on cold winter nights, what kind of hot dip is offered in Japan's so-called "Soaplands" and what goes on under the table in "Taiwan Roulette". All of this and more is discussed in a disarmingly frank manner, providing a host of insights for all girl watchers, apprentice and veteran alike.
Hoping to make a clean break from a fractured marriage, Agatha Christie boards the Orient Express in disguise. But unlike her famous detective Hercule Poirot, she can't neatly unravel the mysteries she encounters on this fateful journey. And Agatha isn't the only passenger on board with secrets. Her cabinmate Katharine Keeling's first marriage ended in tragedy, propelling her toward a second relationship mired in deceit. Nancy Nelson, newly married but carrying another man's child, is desperate to conceal the pregnancy and teeters on the brink of utter despair. Each woman hides her past from the others, ferociously guarding her secrets. But as the train bound for the Middle East speeds down the track, the parallel courses of their lives shift to intersect - with lasting repercussions.
In this highly acclaimed study, Billie Melman recovers the unwritten history of the European experience of the Middle-East during the colonial era. She focuses on the evolution of Orientalism and the reconstruction - through contact with other cultures - of gender and class. Beginning with the eighteenth century Billie Melman describes the many ways in which women looked at oriental people and places and developed a discourse which presented a challenge to hegemonic notions on the exotic and 'different'. Through her examination of the writings of famous feminist writers, travellers, ethnographers, missionaries, archaeologists and Biblical scholars, many of which are studied here for the first time, Billie Melman challenges traditional interpretations of Orientalism, placing gender at the forefront of colonial studies. 'This book provides a real extension to Edward Said's writing not only in the sense of challenging Edward Said's perspective, but also by adding a significant empirical and conceptual element to the discussion on orientalism. Those interested in women's history, in the cultural politics of cross-cultural encounters and in feminist or cultural theory will find much to engage them, inform them and challenge them in Melman's book.' - Joanna De Groot, Times Higher Education Supplement 'Using the perspectives of both gender and class Melman sets an alternative view of the Orient against that of Said... a much less monolithic and much more complex and heterogenous than that of Said' - Francis Robinson, Times Literary Supplement 'Women's Orients is an important contribution to our understanding of Orientalism. Melman's work is characterized by a fruitful bringing together of the skills of the historian with the sensitive reading of the British women writers...' - Catherine Hall, The Feminist Review 'An excellent work... This book is a must for anyone interested in women's history, both English and Middle Eastern. It is well written and well argued and effectively does what it promises to do' - Afaf Lutfi Al-Sayyid Marsot, The International History Review 'Women's Orients, a project of recovery and analysis, is an important consideration of European women traveller's writing on the Middle East. It provides a rich and detailed interpretation of a feminine version of the Orient' - Sherifa Zuhur, MESA Bulletin 'The book raises provocative issues and suggests complexities that deepen our understanding of colonial changes and representations' - Dorothy O.Helly, American Historical Review.
The fifteen hagiographies about holy women of the Syrian Orient collected here include stories of martyrs' passions and saints' lives, pious romances and personal reminiscences. Dating from the fourth to seventh centuries A.D., they are translated from Syriac into accessible and vivid prose. Annotations and source notes by the translators help clarify elements that may be unfamiliar to some readers. This collection bears witness to the profound contributions women made to early Chistianity: their various roles, their leadership inside and outside the church structure, and their power to influence others. A new preface discusses recent developments in the field and updates the bibliography.
Examining and historicizing the concept of "otherness" in both literature and criticism, Lisa Lowe explores representations of non-European cultures in British and French writings from the eighteenth through the twentieth century. Lowe traces the intersections of culture, class, and sexuality in Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s Turkish Embassy Letters and Montesquieu’s Lettres persanes and discusses tropes of orientalism, racialism, and romanticism in Flaubert. She then turns to debates in Anglo-American and Indian criticism on Forster’s Passage to India and on the utopian projection of China in the poststructuralist theories of Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes and in the journal Tel Quel.
The Women of Cairo: Scenes of Life in the Orient, first published in 1929, describes the trip to Egypt and other locations in the Ottoman Empire taken by French Romanticist Gerard de Nerval. The book focuses on both reinforcing and dispelling the old ways in which people saw the Orient, as well as examining their old and new customs. This book is perfect for those studying history and travel.
In contrast to most cultural histories of imperialism, which analyse Orientalist images of rather than by women, Gendering Orientalism focuses on the contributions of women themselves. Drawing on the little-known work of Henriette Browne, other `lost' women Orientlist artists and the literary works of George Eliot, Reina Lewis challenges masculinist assumptions relating to the stability and homogeneity of the Orientalist gaze. Gendering Orientalism argues that women did not have a straightforward access to an implicitly nale position of western superiority, Their relationship to the shifting terms of race, nation and gender produced positions from which women writers and artists could articulate alternative representations of racial difference. It is this different, and often less degrading, gaze on the Orientalized `Other' that is analysed in this book. By revealing the extent of women's involvement in the popular field of visual Orientalism and highlighting the presence of Orientalist themes in the work of Browne, Eliot and Charlotte Bronte, reina Lewis uncovers women's roles in imperial culture and discourse. Gendering Orientalism will appeal to students, lecturers and researchers in cultural studies, literature, art history, women's studies and anthropology.
A groundbreaking critique of the West's historical, cultural, and political perceptions of the East that is—three decades after its first publication—one of the most important books written about our divided world. "Intellectual history on a high order ... and very exciting." —The New York Times In this wide-ranging, intellectually vigorous study, Said traces the origins of "orientalism" to the centuries-long period during which Europe dominated the Middle and Near East and, from its position of power, defined "the orient" simply as "other than" the occident. This entrenched view continues to dominate western ideas and, because it does not allow the East to represent itself, prevents true understanding.
An attempt to reveal, recover and reconsider the roles, positions, and actions of Ottoman women, this volume reconsiders the negotiations, alliances, and agency of women in asserting themselves in the public domain in late- and post-Ottoman cities. Drawing on diverse theoretical backgrounds and a variety of source materials, from court records to memoirs to interviews, the contributors to the volume reconstruct the lives of these women within the urban sphere. With a fairly wide geographical span, from Aleppo to Sofia, from Jeddah to Istanbul, the chapters offer a wide panorama of the Ottoman urban geography, with a specific concern for gender roles.
